following a beating of a white suspect during an arrest in Arkansas. The
Department of Justice has also initiated a civil rights investigation into the
matter. The arrest was initiated by the suspect, 27-year-old, Randal Worcester,
for allegedly spitting on and threatening a gas station attendant about 7 miles
from where he was arrested. The PBS segment states incorrectly, âauthorities
have not suggested the suspect was armed.â He was in fact armed with a knife at
the time the threats were made and when the police initially caught up with
him.
Unlike the PBS segment, which had no detail about the actions that led to his
arrest, the CBS segment quotes the Crawford County Sheriff's statement: âThe
dash cam video does bring to light other things that did happen thereâ. Police
in a neighboring town received a call about a man believed to be the suspect,
Randal Worcester, making terroristic threats against a gas station employee. He
had allegedly spit on the attendant and threatened to cut off the personâs
face. Worcester then biked about seven miles before the officers caught up with
him. After initially handing over a knife, the suspect then âfootball tackled
one of the officers and punched him in the back of the headâ. The Sheriff said
that âwhen they were going to take him into custody, that is when he started to
fight.â
Unlike the CBS report on this incident, the suspect is never shown from an
angle and distance where his race can be determined. In another instance where
the PBS reporting was significantly different from the CBS report, in the PBS
segment he was not shown after the incident, where it can be seen that not only
is he a young white man, the CBS segment, showed that he had no apparent
injuries to his face or head, beyond what might be a mild abrasion on his
forehead, that was only visible in an extreme closeup. When he is released from
custody, he seems to walk and move about easily and does not appear to be in
pain or any kind of distress. When asked by a reporter how he was doing,
Worcester answered, âDoing pretty good today.â
He was released on bail today. He is facing several charges including
terroristic threats.
The only person chosen as a commenter for the PBS segment was Alex Vatae, the
author of the book, âThe End of Policing.â According to Wikipedia, âIn it,
Vitale argues for the eventual abolition of the police, to be replaced
variously by decriminalization or with non-law enforcement approaches,
depending on the crime.â https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_Policing
Commenting on this incident, Vatae describes this incident as â...a not very
threatening situation,â he said, âOn the other hand, itâs part of a pattern we
have seen of police use of force, to manage situations where in many cases
police just shouldnât be involved in the first place.
When asked some more leading questions by the Newshourâs Amna Nawaz, Vatae
said, â...We do have more detail information about police-involved killings,
when police kill someone, and the sad fact is there has been no change in that
number in the last several years. If anything the number has gotten greater.
So, despite several years of demands that police make reforms, [to] reduce the
levels of violence, American police continue to kill three Americans pretty
much every day in the United StatesâŚ
⌠What we have seen is that even when these local forces do tighten their use
of force guidelines, it does not produce the desired result. Minneapolis, in
the wake of the Michael Brown killing, in Ferguson Missouri, did tighten up its
use of force policy, added body cameras, created de-escalation training for
officers, and it just did not matter, when it came to the killing of George
Floyd.
Amna Nawaz: âYou mentioned George Floyd. If that killing wasnât a
transformative moment what is? What will it take?â
Vatae : âWell, I think there have been some changes in the direction that we
were hearing demands for on the streets, following the Minneapolis uprising.
And, that is a growing number of cities looking at ways of reducing the role of
policing by creating new public safety infrastructures. I think there is some
evidence in this case in Arkansas, that this person was having a mental health
crisis, and we know that between a quarter and a half of all people killed by
the police in the United States are having a mental health crisis, and so a
growing number of cities are creating new nonpolice crisis response teams that
are integrated into 911 systems and it gives them a better way to respond to
these calls so it doesnât end up resulting in this kind of high-level abuse of
force.â
Vatae said that police kill about 3 people per day. Three killings per day
equal about 1095 per year. According to the Washington Post Fatal Force Data
Base, that number is fairly accurate. But that figure includes all police
killings, both those that are justified as well as those that are found to be
unjustified.
According to The Libertarian Republic, âA new Washington Post analysis shows
that in almost all fatal police shootings, police are totally justified. The
report analyzed 800 fatal police shootings. âBut only a small number of the
shootings â roughly 5 percent â occurred under the kind of circumstances that
raise doubt and draw public outcry, according to an analysis by The Washington
Post. The vast majority of individuals shot and killed by police officers wereâŚ
armed with guns and killed after attacking police officers or civilians or
making other direct threatsâŚâ
ââŚIn 74 percent of fatal police shootings, police pulled the trigger only after
the other person fired, brandished their gun, or attacked someone, the Post
analysis points out.
An additional 16 percent occurred when a person was acting in a dangerous and
threatening manner, such as refusing to put down a knife.
As for the 5 percent of cases that cause doubt, police reported that the person
refused to follow orders and did something like make a sudden movement. In some
cases, police said they accidentally shot the personâŚâ
ââŚHalf of those killed by police were white, a fourth black, and one-sixth
Hispanic. These numbers appear to contradict the growing belief that unprovoked
violence, particularly against minorities, is the norm for police departments
across the countryâŚâ
ââŚWhile there have been some officers who made grave mistakes, Hosko told
TheDCNF these numbers prove the claims of widespread brutality are exaggerated.
He said since Michael Brownâs death in Ferguson the media is quick to run
misleading headlines that are critical of cops while giving the full picture
which explains the copâs reasoning much further down in the story.
https://thelibertarianrepublic.com/new-report-examines-how-many-police-shootings-are-justified/
My editorial comment: The most unusual thing about this PBS report was that it
featured a white victim of alleged police misconduct. But, that fact was never
revealed in the PBS segment. In my opinion, the reason for not revealing that
fact is that PBS wants to continue to perpetuate the false narrative that the
police are more racist than other professions and that they purposely target
African Americans for physical abuse and murder. When taking into account the
number of crimes committed by the various races, per capita, per encounter,
white people are slightly more likely to be killed by the police than are
African Americans. Police of all races are more likely to be killed by African
Americans than the other way around.
If, as Vatae has stated, the number of police killings continues to go up, it
is likely that it is because the police have more potentially violent contacts
with criminals. As the number of criminals and their violent activities
increases, largely as a result of calls to defend/dismantle the police, that
would be a logical outcome. He has himself to blame along with the pandering
politicians like Cam Gordon and Ilhan Omar.
https://www.pbs.org/video/use-of-force-1661205927/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arkansas-violent-arrest-video-zack-king-levi-white-thell-riddle-randal-worcester-federal-civil-rights/
CJ Sparrow
612-386-6538
occupirate.blogspot.com